Delegates at the Democratic National Convention are set to vote Monday night (US time) on their 2024 party platform, which lays out familiar priorities for the party but wrongly names President Joe Biden as the candidate running for re-election.
The Democratic National Committee on Sunday said the document, which is more than 90 pages long, “makes a strong statement about the historic work that President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have accomplished hand-in-hand, and offers a vision for a progressive agenda that we can build on as a nation and as a Party as we head into the next four years”.
The party said its platform committee voted to approve the platform on July 16, days before Biden bowed out of the race and endorsed Harris on July 21. As a result, the document repeatedly refers to Biden’s second term and his administration’s accomplishments. It mentions Harris’ work as vice president but does not describe her candidacy or go into detail on her views on key issues.
Harris has talked generally about supporting the Biden administration’s key goals, which are more or less endorsed in the platform as written.
US President Joe Biden will be praised for calling time on his bid for re-election.Credit: AP
The platform calls for restoring abortion rights nationwide, continuing to advance green energy initiatives that can create jobs and help slow climate change, capping low-income families’ childcare costs and urging Congress to approve a pathway to U.S. citizenship for “long-term” people in the country illegally.
It also says Israel’s right to defend itself is “ironclad” while endorsing the Biden administration’s efforts to broker a lasting cease-fire deal that could suspend the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The largely ceremonial vote at Chicago’s convention will signal the party coalescing around a singular vision for the next four years — though a somewhat outdated one, as Harris has only outlined a few of her own specific policy positions since she took over the Democratic presidential ticket last month.
AP
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